1) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the assembly of fencing members, and more particularly, to a system capable of constructing an entire fencing panel without the use of mechanical fasteners or welding.
2) Description of Related Art
Prior to the invention of the “swedge gun”, the assembly of hollow tubular metal fencing members was accomplished with screws, welding, and the like. These process were time consuming, and in the case of using mechanical fasteners like screws, created issues with rust as the paint chipped off around the screws.
The “swedge gun”, however, eliminated the need for mechanical fasteners and welding. The swedging process involves the use of a tool (swedge gun) that is inserted into the interior of the metal fence tubing. The tool then forms an indentation on the interior surface. The deformation is received in a complementary recess in an adjacent fencing member to interlock the two fencing members. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,224,256, incorporated herein by reference in its entirety, disclose a single swedge gun and the method of assembling tubular metal fencing members using such a swedge gun.
While the invention of the swedge gun was a major improvement over the use of mechanical fasteners, the swedge gun still has to be inserted into fencing member one at a time. Accordingly, assembly of an entire fencing panel is still a time intensive process for swedging each connection to be made.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a fencing panel assembly apparatus that overcomes the time consuming disadvantages and shortcomings associated with the prior art use of a single swedge gun for assembly of fencing panels.